In Sports from United Press International

CINCINNATI, June 3 (UPI) -- New York Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter, a key member of a team that has reached the postseason each of the last eight seasons, Tuesday was named the 11th captain in club history.

In a news conference at Great American Ball Park, where the Yankees begin a three-game interleague series with the Cincinnati Reds, Jeter had the honor bestowed upon him by owner George Steinbrenner, who was not in attendance.

"I have always been very, very careful about giving such a responsibility to one of my players," Steinbrenner said in a statement. "But I can't think of a single player that I have ever had who is more deserving of this honor than Derek Jeter."

Jeter is the Yankees' first captain since Don Mattingly, who served in the role over his final five years in the major leagues (1991-95).

Jeter's name is added to a list that also includes Babe Ruth (1922), Lou Gehrig (1935-41) and Thurman Munson (1976-79). Ruth was captain for six days before Everett Scott accepted the role.

The first captain in team history was Hal Chase (1912). The others were Roger Peckinpaugh (1914-21), Graig Nettles (1982-84), Willie Randolph and Ron Guidry. Randolph and Guidry were co-captains from 1986-89.

"In their first 100 seasons, the New York Yankees had only 10 team captains," General Manager Brian Cashman said. "Derek Jeter has no doubt demonstrated that he is uniquely qualified to be our first captain since Don Mattingly and the first of our second century."

The announcement comes during a tough time for the Yankees, the most successful franchise in baseball history. They have made the postseason each year since 1996 but have lost 17 of their last 27 games.

New York leads Boston by 1 1/2 games in the American League East.

Jeter has been a rock for the Yankees, helping them to World Series titles in 1996 and 1998-2000. His spectacular defensive play against Oakland helped New York advance to the 2001 Fall Classic vs. Arizona.

The 2003 season got off to a shaky start for Jeter, who dislocated his shoulder on Opening Day and missed six weeks. He is batting .298 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 19 games.

The 1996 American League Rookie of the Year, Jeter has been named to each of the last five AL All-Star teams. He also was voted World Series and All-Star MVP in 2000.

Although he has been criticized for his lack of power, Jeter entered the season with a .317 career batting average, 117 homers, 563 RBI and 167 stolen bases.

"If you had told me one year ago that I was going to play Carlos Moya in the Roland Garros quarterfinals and beat him, I would have thought that we ought to drink more beer and then I might believe you," Verkerk said.

On the women's end, top-seeded Serena Williams, the defending champion, breezed into the semifinals with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over crowd favorite Amelie Mauresmo.

"It's difficult when you play a player who the crowd loves so much and who does so much for the country and you're playing her in their country," Williams said.

Williams is aiming for her fifth straight Grand Slam title. While it's three tournaments away, she also is looking to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four majors in the same year.

Williams' semifinal opponent will be fourth-seeded Justin Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who handed the world's top-ranked player her first loss of the season in early April at the Family Circle Cup final.

Henin-Hardenne bounced No. 8 Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 6-2, as she seeks her first career Grand Slam title. She reached the semifinals for the fifth time.

The other semifinal will pit second-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium and unseeded Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Flowers, 30, spent his first eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers but was not re-signed. Last season, the 6-foot, 214-pound Flowers played in all 16 games and registered 58 tackles and two interceptions.

A 1995 fifth-round pick out of Georgia Tech, Flowers became a starter with the Steelers in 1998. He collected a career-high 83 tackles in his first season as a starter while emerging into a leader in the secondary.

In Denver, Flowers should challenge Kenoy Kennedy and Sam Brandon for the starting job at strong safety.

Kanell, 29, has been out of the football since 2000, when he played for the Atlanta Falcons. He also has played for the New York Giants in his career and has completed 438-of-853 passes for 4,687 yards with 29 touchdowns and 29 interceptions.

The Broncos on Tuesday also signed cornerback Sam Young, who was waived during training camp last season.

NBA Finals begin Wednesday

SAN ANTONIO, June 3 (UPI) -- In a series that is certain to provide as many questions as answers, San Antonio and New Jersey meet Wednesday in Game One of the NBA Finals at the SBC Center.

It marks the first championship series pitting teams that originated in the ABA, the league with the colorful red, white, and blue ball and game. The Spurs joined the NBA in 1973. The Nets came over in 1976, the year of their second ABA title.

The Spurs won only one playoff series in six ABA seasons. They needed five tries to win their first NBA series, but they have one more NBA title than the Nets, winning during the lockout-abbreviated 1999 season.

While they may have something to prove in the Finals, the Spurs advanced this far by beating three very different teams, eliminating Phoenix, the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, and Dallas, each time in six games.

Their go-to guy is two-time league MVP Tim Duncan, who won the same award in the 1999 Finals. He provides a defensive nightmare for opponents. The 7-foot power forward is averaging 24.9 points, 14.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, all team highs, this postseason.

The series is being billed as a battle between Duncan and star New Jersey guard Jason Kidd, who figures to be the NBA's most sought-after free agent this offseason. He likely will be hit with an onslaught of questions about a possible move to San Antonio.

It has been rumored that Kidd would consider a move to Texas to team with Duncan as one of the most formidable 1-2 punches in league history. New Jersey fans likely will beg Kidd to stay during the middle three games of the series in East Rutherford.

The reaction from fans toward Kidd at SBC Center should depend on the play of point guard Tony Parker, an unproven second-year player from France, who is second on the team with 14.9 points per game, but doesn't compare to Kidd.

He is averaging 20.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per contest during a phenomenal postseason, helping the Nets to the Finals for the second straight year. They were swept by the Lakers last season, but many give them a chance this time around.

Part of the reason is the development of former No. 1 draft pick Kenyon Martin, an inside force on both the offensive and defensive ends. The 6-9 forward leads the team in the playoffs with 20.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

The Nets will go only as far as Kidd, Martin, and their fast break take them. They have lived in an up-tempo offense, one that caused major problems for Milwaukee, Boston, and Detroit in the first three rounds of the postseason.

While both teams have point guards and big men to reckon with, the series could come down to the supporting casts.

Game One is scheduled to tip off Wednesday at 8:30. Game Two is Friday, then the series shifts to New Jersey on Sunday.

Fratello out as New Orleans candidate

NEW ORLEANS, June 3 (UPI) -- Mike Fratello, who has NBA head coaching experience, has told New Orleans not to consider him for its vacancy.

Fratello withdrew his name from consideration on Monday. He reportedly was one of three candidates being considered to replace the fired Paul Silas, who fill the vacancy at Cleveland on Monday.

A report Tuesday by the Times-Picayune said Fratello told Bob Bass, the Hornets' General Manager and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, of his decision in a telephone conversation Monday morning.

"I thanked Bob, and I thanked the organization for giving me consideration," Fratello told the paper. "But I'm not sure at this time that this is where I want to go, so I'm pulling out of the situation. I took the whole weekend to think about it, watching what was happening and the timing of the thing just isn't right. They're great people down there. I've known Mr. (George) Shinn and Mr. (Ray) Wooldridge and Bob for a long time. Potentially, they've got a great team."

"He called up and said he wanted to withdraw as a candidate for the Hornets' head coaching job," Bass told the paper. "And the only other statement he made is that the process was taking too long. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you."

The Times-Picayune said the remaining candidates are former Chicago Bulls Coach Tim Floyd, who is a native of New Orleans, and Brian Hill, who also has coached the Orlando Magic and Vancouver Grizzlies.

Fratello has a career record of 572-462. He has coached the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, has been to the playoffs nine times, and went to the semifinals of the Eastern Conference three times.

Isles fire Laviolette, promote Striling

UNIONDALE, N.Y., June 3 (UPI) -- New York Islanders General Manager Mike Milbury fired Coach Peter Laviolette on Tuesday, saying just making the playoffs is not good enough.

Assistant coaches Jacques Laperriere and Kelly Miller also were fired.

Milbury replaced Laviolette with Steve Stirling, who spent the last two seasons coaching the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate at Bridgeport. It was his first head coaching job at the professional level.

Greg Cronin, an Islanders assistant the last five years, will succeed Stirling at Bridgeport. Stirling will be introduced at a news conference on Wednesday.

Two years ago, Laviolette guided the Islanders to their first playoff appearance since 1994. They made it again this season, but lost in the first round both times, something that didn't sit well with Milbury.

"We felt a change was necessary for this team to move to the next level and compete for the Stanley Cup," said Milbury, who also has been on the hot seat. "Just making the playoffs is not good enough."

Laviolette was given his first NHL coaching job by Milbury in May 2001. The move paid immediate dividends as the Islanders opened the 2001-02 season with a franchise-best 9

1-1 mark.

As a rookie coach, Laviolette led the Islanders to the fourth-biggest one-year turnaround in NHL history as the team went from 21 to 42 wins.

The Islanders lost a hard-fought seven-game series to Toronto in the 2002 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, losing team captain Michael Peca in the process.

More was expected of the team this season, but Peca missed the first fifth of the season while recovering from knee and shoulder surgery, and no one else was able to take over the leadership role.

Alexei Yashin, the team's leading scorer, was quiet until the final month of the season, when the Islanders held off a pair of teams to earn the eighth seed in the East.

The playoffs started on a high note. The Islanders won Game One of their conference quarterfinal series against top-seeded Ottawa, but they lost the next four games by a combined score of 13-4.

With a mixture of veterans and youngsters with potential, the Islanders turned to a coach responsible for developing players in the minor league system.

Stirling won at Bridgeport, leading the team the Calder Cup final in 2002. The Tigers advanced to the second round of the playoffs this past season.

"In Steve Stirling, we are promoting a coach who has developed at the pro level with us during the last six years after an outstanding college coaching career," Milbury said. "Our entire organization believed strongly that Steve deserved this chance."

In two years at the AHL level, Stirling went 83-51-19-7. He has spent six seasons in the Islanders' organization, three as an assistant coach and one as a scout.

Stirling coached Providence to the 1985 NCAA final.

Interleague baseball commences

CINCINNATI, June 3 (UPI) -- Interleague play begins Tuesday night with some intriguing matchups, including the Minnesota at San Francisco, and the New York Yankees at Cincinnati.

The Giants and Twins will be meeting in the regular season for the first time, but the two franchises date back to the origins of major league baseball.

The Giants began playing in New York in the 1880s, and the Twins

branched off from the original Washington Senators, one of the

eight founding members of the American League in 1901.

The Giants and Senators squared off twice in the World Series. On Oct. 10, 1924, the Senators pulled out a 4-3 victory in the 12th inning of a decisive Game Seven, capturing the lone title for the nation's capital.

The clash between the current leaders of the National League West and American League Central divisions represents the first of 12 straight interleague games for each.

In the series opener, southpaw Damian Moss (6-3) goes against righthander Joe Mays, who also is 6-3.

San Francisco's 51-41 all-time record in interleague play is the third-best among National League clubs. Minnesota's 50-52 interleague mark ranks eighth among American League teams.

Earlier in the evening, the Reds are at home to the Yankees. The two teams will meet for the first time since the 1976 World Series.

The Yankees and Reds have never met during the regular season. They have played each other three times in the World Series, the last coming with a Cincinnati sweep in 1976.

The Yankees won the first two postseason meetings between the teams, the 1939 and 1961 World Series.

The starters will be southpaw Andy Pettitte for New York and righthander Jimmy Haynes for the Reds.

Also of note include Toronto at St. Louis, Seattle at Philadelphia, Montreal against Anaheim at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Kirby spent the last three seasons with Oakland, backing up the likes of Charlie Garner and Tyrone Wheatley while playing on special teams. He played in only six regular season games last year, totaling 51 rushing yards and 17 receptions.

This will be Kirby's fifth NFL team. He also has played for Cleveland, San Francisco, and Miami, totaling 2,875 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns, and 333 catches for 3,222 yards and 12 scores in 10 seasons.

LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 3 (UPI) -- Midway Road, the horse that finished second in the Preakness, will not run in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Trainer Neil Howard has confirmed that the son of Jade Hunter would skip the Belmont Stakes in favor of a run in the Grade III $300,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 21.

"We feel like this is the best thing for our horse," said Howard. "We didn't know if it would be the smartest thing right now to take him up there and go a mile and a half against those kind of horses right now, especially a horse like Funny Cide."

Bred in Kentucky, Midway Road took a huge leap in class at the Preakness after posting an 11 3/4-length win in an allowance race at Keeneland on April 24.

While the colt was second, he was still 9 3/4 lengths behind Funny Cide, which try to become the 12th horse to win the coveted Triple Crown when he competes in the Belmont Stakes.

Also withdrawing from the Belmont is Outta Here, which finished seventh in the Preakness, and was considered a long shot.

"I didn't want to sink my teeth into another man's pie," trainer and part-owner Bill Currin told the New York Daily News.

United Press International is a leading provider of news, photos and information to millions of readers around the globe via UPI.com and its licensing services.

With a history of reliable reporting dating back to 1907, today’s UPI is a credible source for the most important stories of the day, continually updated - a one-stop site for U.S. and world news, as well as entertainment, trends, science, health and stunning photography. UPI also provides insightful reports on key topics of geopolitical importance, including energy and security.

A Spanish version of the site reaches millions of readers in Latin America and beyond.

UPI was founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps as the United Press (UP). It became known as UPI when after a merger with the International News Service in 1958, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst. Today, UPI is owned by News World Communications.